Community chosen for Oslo's Bislett Stadium

29 September 2005

Norway - The original Arena in Bislett, Oslo, host venue for speed skating at the 1952 Winter Olympics, was organized as a stadium for sporting events as far back as 1922 and its present shape dates from just before World War ll. In the following years, the arena served speed skaters in the winter and footballers and athletes in the summer, but by the end of the century the neglect of maintenance resulted in the inevitable decision that a new stadium had to be built.

As a much-treasured building in the region, the decision was taken to construct the new stadium in the form of the old one, but with 21st Century facilities and to current standards. So true was the new building to the design of the original that, at the opening for the "Bislett Games/Golden Liege", some locals were heard to question it being an entirely new build.

A major addition in the new stadium is the inclusion of high quality audio systems throughout, supplied by Ingenior Per Grov AS in cooperation with Siemens Installations of Oslo. Community loudspeakers were chosen for the main arena and all outdoor areas with the whole system using 64 R.5-94TX, 17 R.5-SUB, four R2-694 and 14 R2-94 cabinets. Processing and control is via MediaMatrix and power is supplied by Peavey ICA series amplifiers.

Sound engineer Per Grov, explained the choice: "We used Community for their excellent intelligibility and total reliability outdoors in all weather conditions, which can be very severe in Norway. Tightly controlled dispersion was also an important consideration as the Stadium is sited very close to residential areas and we had to provide good coverage inside the stadium with minimum spillage outside it. The results we have been able to achieve with this system are excellent". Grov concluded: "Bislett has always been a part of my life, as I grew up within sight and sound of the stadium and its events, so it has been personally very satisfying to work on the project and bring the stadium up to-date with a first class audio system."

Although the Bislett Games were held in the stadium at the end of July, final fitting and installation work will continue until 1 January 2006, when it will be officially handed over to its owner, the City of Oslo.

(Lee Baldock)